


Like A Kitten

by wildmiracle



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, Team as Family, a WHOLE lot of fluff, sick!Daniel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 18:47:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7450129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildmiracle/pseuds/wildmiracle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you live with people, you learn little things about them. Not necessarily important things, just the little quirks that make people who they are. For instance, Merritt takes his toast burned beyond recognition. Lula has a different perfectly suited ring tone for every member of the team. Jack sings in the shower. Actually fairly well. And the great J. Daniel Atlas wears glasses, but only when he’s not feeling well. So that’s why, when Daniel came downstairs with a pink nose and small circular glasses that made him look three years younger, they knew something was wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like A Kitten

When you live with people, you learn little things about them. Not necessarily important things, just the little quirks that make people who they are. For instance, Merritt takes his toast burned beyond recognition. Lula has a different perfectly suited ring tone for every member of the team. Jack sings in the shower. Actually fairly well. And the great J. Daniel Atlas wears glasses, but only when he’s not feeling well. So that’s why, when Daniel came downstairs with a pink nose and small circular glasses that made him look three years younger, they knew something was wrong. 

They had a small show coming up, and had only been working on set up for a week or so, which made Daniel antsier than normal. However, the last couple days he had been subdued. Falling asleep during movie night, being less bossy than usual. The latter of which was more concerning than the former. Lula, only month or so into their new living conditions, thought nothing of it. Merritt and Jack on the other hand seemed to be waiting for a ball to drop, eyeing him during meal times and being a little more insistent about bed time (which only needed to be enforced for Daniel, who would otherwise stay up till 4AM and wake up two hours later without a second thought).

“Okay, here’s how it’s going to-” Daniel paused abruptly, a glazed look in his eyes. Lula looked up from her phone, slightly concerned. Merritt and Jack just sighed, and Jack got up and walked in the direction of the bathroom.  
“...Atlas?” she asked warily.  
Daniel opened his mouth, and then turned away and ducked into his elbow, sneezing in a way that made Lula nearly coo. For a man made of hard edges and an abrupt way of speaking, he practically squeaked.  
“Bless you!” Jack hollered from down the hall.  
Daniel shook his head. “Sorry. Oka-”, he broke away again, the force of it nearly knocking him over. A fainter blessing rang out again. Merritt looked disapprovingly at Daniel, who sheepishly sniffled and turned back to the whiteboard with the show’s blueprints.  
“If you think you’re doing anything but going back to bed, Rudolph, you’re sorely mistaken.” Merritt drawled, almost lazily.  
“What’re you talking about, I’b fide.” he snapped impatiently, swiping at his nose with his sleeve.  
Merritt hummed at him, waiting. Daniel kept eye contact for maybe thirty more seconds, before a tiny sneeze tossed him forward again, once, twice. He resurfaced, and as Jack entered the room prepared to chide him, he lifted a thin finger. “Hhssxx” he stifled into his arm. Jack smirked, and extended a tissue box.  
“Bless be again and I’ll hurt you,” Daniel muttered, gratefully accepting the gift. After blowing his nose, making it even redder and by comparison his face even paler, he cleared his throat.  
“Well, sorry about that display. Shall we continue?”  
Lula broke in. “Absolutely not. You look awful. We can wait till tomorrow, the show still isn’t for two days.”  
“You’re joking, right? We can’t just take a break, I’b okay. Promise” Daniel protested, his voice just cracked enough to make him sound vulnerable. Merritt and Jack exchanged looks, and before Lula could fight with Danny’s inability to be less than perfect, they moved into position.  
“You look tired Daniel. You want to lie down. All you can think about is sleep,” Merritt said. Jack eased behind Daniel, in a clearly well practiced maneuver.  
He sighed stuffily. “You dnow this doesn’t work on me.”  
“Of course not, dear,” Merritt snapped his fingers. Daniel folded backwards into Jack’s waiting arms. Jack heaved him up, carrying him bridal style to the couch in the adjoining room. Lula followed behind, firing questions left and right.  
“What’s wrong with him? Is he okay? Will he be able to do the show? Does he always sneeze like a kitten that’s… I don’t know, allergic to itself?”  
Merritt covered Daniel with a blanket that was more patches than wool and walked towards the closet. Jack perched himself next to Daniel’s prone body.  
“He’ll be fine, just a bad cold. Guy has the immune system of a newborn. If we keep him here until the performance, he’ll be at least on the mend. And yea, his sneezes are pathetic.” he said as Merritt returned with a thermometer.  
“Okay buddy, go ahead and wake up.” He snapped again.  
Daniel’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and his eyes roamed the room.  
“Hey Danny, want to open up for me?” Jack asked gently.  
Surprisingly compliant, Danny opened his mouth.  
“Just keep it in there for a minute or so” Merritt instructed. Jack ruffled Danny’s hair, which had grown out enough to curl a bit and turned to the other healthier Horsemen.  
“Is he always like this when he’s sick?” Lula asked, watching Danny listlessly try to push himself up only to collapse back into the couch.  
“Oh yes. Jack, remember the stomach flu incident of 2014?”  
Jack shuddered. “Unfortunately”.  
Lula looked wide eyed at Merritt. “What happened?”  
“Nasty stomach bug going around, and of course Daniel here catches it. Pukes his guts out for two days straight, then sneaks out and performs in the snow with a bucket just in case. He had an easier time with the walking pneumonia than surviving Dylan.”  
Jack leaned over and plucked the thermometer from Danny’s mouth.  
“Yep, 101.1. Merritt?”  
“On it.” the mentalist supplied, moving for the kitchen with Lula following as Jack bullied Danny into lying down.

 

Lula leaned against the dishwasher as Merritt pulled a generic fever reducer from the cabinet.  
“Why are you guys doing this for him?”  
Merritt raised his eyebrows. “You mean besides the fact that he’s our friend?”  
Lula hesitated, but didn’t back down. “Yea. It’s not like he’s been nice to any of us. Daniel has a habit of being a dick.”  
Merritt exhaled, filling a glass of water.  
“There’s where you’re wrong. You haven’t known him all that long, but he cares a lot more than you give him credit for. When Henley left, Jack had a particularly hard time with it. Daniel didn’t leave him for a week and a half. When I drunk myself into a stupor after a bad show, he put me to bed and left me painkillers for the next morning. He doesn’t tell us when he gets sick because he feels like he’s got to be strong for the rest of us, some sort of hero complex. That doesn’t take a mentalist to figure out.”  
Lula was quiet for a while. Then she pulled a mug down from the cupboard. “What kind of tea does he like?”  
“Green.” Merritt said, smiling appreciatively. 

In the living room, Daniel had started to shiver. “Can’t we turn the heat up? Just a little bit?”  
Jack sighed affectionately. “It’s actually really hot in here, Danny. You just have a fever because you’re a ridiculous idiot.”  
“Not sick.”  
“Is that why you look shittier than normal?”  
Daniel blinked mulishly. “I’m just cold.”  
Jack plopped down, encircling his small frame with arms he had no hope of getting out of.  
Daniel nervously tried to pull away. “Jack, don’t. You could get sick.”  
Jack smiled victoriously, pulling the edge of the blanket over Danny’s feet. “So you admit you’re sick?”  
Daniel gave him a look.  
“Don’t worry,” he comforted, allowing Danny to hesitantly muffle a cough into Jack’s shoulder. “It’ll take more than the sniffles to bring me down. Do your worst.”  
Daniel gave a small smile, unlike the smirks he usually wore, and gingerly rested his head against Jack’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so this is my first fanfic ever so be gentle but also rip me apart. also no one edited this (yikes). hope you enjoy!
> 
> my tumblr is wildmiracle  
> my youtube channel is katherine grace


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